Cougars’ future on full displayWRs, defense shine brightest in UH spring game

SAM KHAN JR. , Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle |
April 9, 2011

The UH Red team's Marcus Williams pulls in a pass over the White team's Chevy Bennett, left, and Kent Brooks.

With two players who have tallied hundreds of catches and thousands of yards in their college careers, the Houston Cougars have been looking for guys other than Tyron Carrier and Patrick Edwards to step up and show what they’re made of.

Throughout UH’s four weeks of spring practice, several have, and in the annual Red and White spring football game Saturday at Robertson Stadium, a few showed flashes of their potential to help the Cougars eventually.

While Carrier, Edwards, E.J. Smith and the versatile Justin Johnson sit atop the depth chart, opportunities exist for others to contribute given the abundance of four- and five-receiver sets the Cougars use in their up-tempo offense.

“They progressively got better all spring,” said co-offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. “We wanted to see them come out here with the lights on, people in the stands and see how they respond, and they did well. They made plays all spring and continued to do so today.”

Williams, a Sterling product, is one who has waited for an opportunity. On Saturday, he made catches at various spots on the field — short and deep — including a juggling 21-yard touchdown reception in the back right corner of the end zone while draped by cornerback Alex Tillman. Lazard, a former Dawson quarterback, also showed a wide range of skills and even took a big hit and held on to the ball on a post route in the final minute of the scrimmage.

Stopping the run key

The defense shined in the modified spring game setup, which allowed for two 15-minute quarters in the first half and a 20-minute running clock in the second. Linebacker Phillip Steward recorded two sacks, safety D.J. Jones had an interception and Clear Lake product Jon Witten led the unit with 10 tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Tillman, a walk-on from North Shore, had nine tackles while Texas City product Kris Johnston added eight.

“Throughout this spring, I feel like we’ve gotten better stopping the run,” Steward said. “We’ve been hammering at that because last year we weren’t very good at it. This year, coming into the spring, that’s what our objective was.”

On special teams, junior kicker Matt Hogan showed off his leg by connecting on field goals from 52 and 57 yards out. However, his final kick, a miss from 42 yards, bugged him as much as the first two made him happy.

Kicking himself

“It’s always nice to hit long ones,” Hogan said, “but I’ve got to make everything. It’s nice to get those under my belt, but the ones that really count are the short ones and the middle-distance ones — anything that helps get points counts.”